Top 25 failures in Seattle and the NW in 2013

JAKE ELLISO, Seattle Post-Intelligencer

By JAKE ELLISON, SEATTLEPI.COM

Updated 10:06 am, Saturday, December 28, 2013

1. Seattle Sonic’s NBA debacle has to be among the biggest civic failures of 2013. With months of work, millions of dollars and big plans for an arena development all nailed down and ready to go … Chris Hansen et al. failed to win the Sacramento Kings. Then, “the man who hates Seattle” NBA commissioner David Stern announced that NBA expansion, if there ever is one, will likely be years in the making.

All of Hansen’s plans for a parcel of land down in Sodo as well as the city and county backing for it, are on hold until he signs an NBA team. “If you want the Sonics back, it’s probably a good time to get over the anger and frustration, and just get back to doing what it takes to show everybody what a great city we are,” Hansen said on KJR Sports Radio’s “Dave ‘Softy’ Mahler Show.”

2. Port of Seattle hated Hansen’s arena plans for Sodo. The agency raised as much of stink as its could over traffic and business and safety of small helpless children, but it failed to stop any of Hansen’s plans. … Unless, that is, it was some toughs from the Port that got Stern to shut it all down!

Photo: The Port of Seattle’s Seaport The seaport is made up of 1,543 acres of waterfront land and nearby properties including container terminals, general purpose/cargo terminals, foreign trade zone, break-bulk cargo and refrigerated cargo and storage. Credit: Port of Seattle
Photo: Multiple

2. Port of Seattle hated Hansen’s arena plans for Sodo. The...

3. The I-5 bridge collapse over the Skagit River was a failure of spectacular proportions when you think of what actually happened and the sheer, unadulterated freak luck that no one was killed. Amid an increasingly dangerous national-level failure to maintain our country’s infrastructure, the I-5 bridge collapse may have been triggered by a semi-truck hitting one of the overhead supports but it was undoubtedly the fault of an out-of-date bridge design and metal fatigue that an up-to-date engineer could have made non-issue years ago.

Clarification (1/2/2014): It was brought to my attention that the above caption could be read to say Washington State is at fault for the bridge collapse. Figuring out who or what agency is legally responsible for the bridge collapse is something for the National Transportation Safety Board and, possibly, a judge to decide. The above caption is more general than that: We don't know why the bridge collapsed, but it seems clear to us that the bridge could have been made strong enough to withstand an even much more direct hit ... if we as a society were willing to pay for such bridges.

Photo: Bryce Kenning sits on the roof of his car after a section of the Interstate 5 bridge over the Skagit River collapsed between Mt. Vernon and Burlington. Two cars and one travel trailer went in the water after a truck hauling an oversized load struck part of the bridge, sending a span crashing into the river below. There were no serious injuries in the accident but the accident rerouted traffic for weeks as a temporary bridge was put into place. (FRANCISCO RODRIGUEZ/SPECIAL TO SEATTLEPI.COM)
Photo: Multiple

3. The I-5 bridge collapse over the Skagit River was a failure of...

4. A four-time convicted flasher decided “on a whim” to pirate a Victoria Clipper vessel and escape to Canada, cops said. … However, the would-be captain wasn’t up to the task (involving as it does a bit more skill than opening a raincoat). As we reported, prosecutors say the alleged pirate, Samuel Kenneth McDonough, was unable to pilot the 480-ton vessel and was arrested shortly after the theft by SWAT officers who stormed the boat in Elliott Bay.

5. The Big Bertha Failure. On Dec. 3, the world’s largest drill grinding away 60 feet under Seattle’s waterfront apparently ran into something unexpected and stopped. The failure may not be with the operators of Bertha or engineers of the massive project to replace the Alaskan Way Viaduct with a tunnel, but it’s hard to imagine that such a massive undertaking worth billions of dollars could just “run into something.”

If geologists and paleontologists can do what they do, well, you’d think someone would have noticed an object or geological formation a mere 60-feet underground that was significant enough to stop a machine designed to grind through rock … but, these project are always harder in real life than they look on paper. Bertha remains stuck while crews attempt to suck enough water out of the ground and open some space in front of the cutting head to have a peek sometime in the New Year.

Photo: The tunnel boring machine – Bertha – had cleared about 370 feet of tunnel when this state Department of Transportation photo was taken Thursday, Oct. 24, 2013. (DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION)
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5. The Big Bertha Failure. On Dec. 3, the world’s largest drill...

6. DUI enforcement failure - In November, Mark Mullan was sentenced to 18 years and four months in prison for the March crash that killed Judy and Dennis Schulte and critically injured their daughter-in-law and grandson in northeast Seattle.
As AP and King 5 reported: “Mullan, a 51-year-old journeyman electrician with five prior drunken driving arrests, had a blood-alcohol content about three times the legal limit when he hit the family. At the time of the crash, he was on probation from a recent case, his license was suspended, and he was supposed to have installed an ignition interlock device in his truck.”

In other words, in some ways, we all failed to keep this danger off the road. Easy to say, right? But, do we take enforcement of our laws serious enough to make sure the staff, funding and resources are there to keep repeat offenders off the road while not broadly trammeling on everyone’s civil rights. That’s complicated business, and in this case we all failed miserably.

Photo: Mark Mullan, left, pleads guilty to charges after killing Judy and Dennis Schulte and seriously injuring Karina Ulriksen-Schulte and newborn baby Elias Schulte while driving drunk. At his side is defense attorney Jesse Dubow. Photographed on Thursday, October 3, 2013 at the King County Courthouse in Seattle. (JOSHUA TRUJILLO, SEATTLEPI.COM)
Photo: Multiple

7. Former Seattle mayor Mike McGinn failed when he trotted out a feel-good effort on gun control, a gun buyback event in January. That event backfired a few months later when he said the 716 guns acquired at the event, which cost the city $31,306 to put on, would be melted down for “Peace Bricks” or "Weapons to Words” plaques. The problem was that the guns had already been turned into rebar.

McGinn’s mea culpa: “I apologize for not being more forthcoming at our press conference. We will be using metal from guns acquired at our next gun buy back for our Weapons to Words youth outreach effort. I was informed that morning that the guns from the first buy back were melted down for rebar used in community buildings. The fact was I didn't want this piece of information to distract from the program or the incredible support from Schnitzer Steel and the Chihuly family. We shared the information when directly asked, but we should have been more proactive in sharing the source of the metal for Weapons to Words. That was my mistake.

Photo: Seattle Police Department officers log exchanged guns during the City of Seattle's gun buy back program on Saturday, January 26, 2013. The program handed out $80,000 worth of gift cards in exchange for weapons brought in by the public. (JOSHUA TRUJILLO, SEATTLEPI.COM)
Photo: Multiple

7. Former Seattle mayor Mike McGinn failed when he trotted out a...

8. An earlier fight lost by stick-to-his-guns McGinn that might have been a big factor in his failure to retain the mayoral seat this year was his attack on the tunnel plan for replacing the viaduct. He put a lot of political capital behind, first, a veto of the city council’s adoption of the city, state and federal deal; and then he forced a referendum on the $3.1 billion tunnel plan and lost, big time. As we reported at the time, “Referendum 1 became not only a vote on the tunnel, but a chance for many people to express dissatisfaction with the mayor half way through his term.”

Photo: The cutter head of the Washington State Department of Transportation's Big Bertha Highway 99 tunnel boring machine is lowered into its launch pit on Friday, May 31, 2013. The machine is scheduled to be launched in July and will emerge from the other end of the tunnel 14 months later. (JOSHUA TRUJILLO, SEATTLEPI.COM)
Photo: Multiple

8. An earlier fight lost by stick-to-his-guns McGinn that might...

9. No transportation deal in Olympia … just last week the last attempt of the year to pass a state-wide transportation plan failed to get off the ground. It’s a big-ticket item and as we all know our great political processes are paralyzed across the country by anything that might even sniff of complex, bi-partisan dealmaking to, you know, run things and build for the future and so on.

10. Everything the Mariners did in 2013 was a failure … even the couple of wins they had stung bitterly, because those brief glimmers of competence only served to remind fans that gloom and despair — or, put another way, mismanagement and bad play — lay just around the corner.

11. “Mercer Mess” – It may be on the way to being fixed … but this year of construction on Mercer Street has been a nightmare for anyone caught on it and trying to figure out what lane to be in.

Graphic: One of many diversions yet to come in the New Year.
Photo: Multiple

11. “Mercer Mess” – It may be on the way to being fixed …...

12. 2013 violence downtown signaled a significant failure of our civil society. The crimes spanned the gamut from stray bullets killing a father driving his family, a random stabbing that killed a college professor to vicious stranger beatings for who-knows-what. Each crime has its own specific triggers, but it doesn’t happen all the time. So, it seems clear that whatever leads to those crimes are a breakdown in whatever social, civil agreements keep the peace the rest of the time.

What carries the higher cost — A network of social workers and police with training and money to make a difference on the street every day, day in and day out, or random murders? But then it is hard to know what the solution is, thus making this one of those intractable failures that plague our society.

Photo: Troy Wolff , the chairman of the English Department at Shoreline Community College, died after he and a woman he was with were stabbed repeatedly by a stranger in September as they were walking in Pioneer Square after the Seattle Sounders game. (Photo courtesy of Daniel Berman/Bermanphotos.com) Photo: 2013 Daniel Berman
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12. 2013 violence downtown signaled a significant failure of our...

13. Another May Day riot failure. Despite the good causes inherent in both sides: Labor rights and Public Safety … the city had to endure yet another round of hooliganism that achieved only international exposure of broken windows and a police force put in the position of gassing, tackling and shackling.

Photo: A man is taken down by officers after scuffling with them after an officer knocked down a woman he was with during a May Day march in downtown Seattle. (JOSHUA TRUJILLO, SEATTLEPI.COM)
Photo: Multiple

13. Another May Day riot failure. Despite the good causes inherent...

14. No Blue Angels … not a failure that began here, but a failure in D.C. that landed here instead. The annual summer Blue Angels show over Seattle and the visit of Navy ships during Fleet Week fell victim to federal budget cuts.

Photo: The Patriots jet team performs over the log boom during the final day of Seafair 2013 on Lake Washington. (JOSHUA TRUJILLO, SEATTLEPI.COM)
Photo: Multiple

14. No Blue Angels … not a failure that began here, but a failure...

15. Pierce County (in a failure of imagination?) has had one of the more bitter fights over zoning for marijuana in Washington. After county commissioners passed a ban on I-502 stores in unincorporated areas, the county executive vetoed the zoning proposal. The proposal states that until the feds tell them it’s OK, they won’t allow marijuana businesses. County executive Pat McCarthy said the ban put the county in conflict with the state and could face lawsuits from people seeking to open legal state businesses. The county council then, by one vote, overturned the veto.

On Dec. 15, The News Tribune reported that supporters of legalized marijuana plan to challenge the ordinance in court. Pierce County Prosecuting Attorney Mark Lindquist says the county plans to rely on the supremacy of federal law if it is sued. (Photo by Getty Images)
Photo: WIN-Initiative, Multiple

15. Pierce County (in a failure of imagination?) has had one of the...

17. Steve Ballmer finally threw in the towel at Microsoft. The CEO took over from Bill Gates in 2000, when that tech mogul went full-time into philanthropy. Ballmer had been roundly criticized by Microsoft investors for losing the mobile devices war to Apple and Google. A few called for his resignation. Well, they finally got it.

Photo: Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer addresses shareholders during the Microsoft Shareholders Annual Meeting November 19, 2013 in Bellevue, Washington. The meeting was the last for Steve Ballmer as CEO, of which there have only been two in Microsoft's history. (Stephen Brashear/Getty Images)
Photo: Stephen Brashear, Getty Images

17. Steve Ballmer finally threw in the towel at Microsoft. The CEO...

18. The Seattle police got roughed up by the Feds and that led to … (as we reported at the time):
After three decades with the department, Seattle Police Chief John Diaz announced his retirement in April. Diaz, a 33-year veteran of the Police Department, made the announcement at a City Hall news conference.

Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn appeared with him, as did Assistant Police Chief Jim Pugel, who will serve as interim chief.
Tightly composed and soft-spoken from the podium, Diaz was effusive in his praise of the department, its officers and McGinn. Diaz said the time had come for others to move the department forward, and said he is satisfied with planned reforms forced on the Police Department following a critical Justice Department.

"Is there ever a perfect time? No. But it was time for me to go,” Diaz said, flanked by McGinn. "I leave here pretty proud of the job I have done.”

Photo: Seattle Police Chief John Diaz speaks in front of Thomas Perez, the Justice Department's chief civil rights enforcer, as the City of Seattle and U.S. Department of Justice hold a joint briefing to announce an agreement on police reforms on Friday, July 27, 2012. Officials agreed to an independent monitor and court oversight of the city's police department as part of the agreement. (JOSHUA TRUJILLO, SEATTLEPI.COM)
Photo: Multiple

18. The Seattle police got roughed up by the Feds and that led to...

19. Boeing’s Dreamliner failed to stay in service: The Federal Aviation Administration and other regulators grounded 787s worldwide in January, after a battery fire in a Dreamliner parked in Boston and an overheated battery that led to an emergency landing of another 787 in Japan.

Photo: The first Boeing 787 with a new battery system takes off on a certification flight for the system on April 5, 2013 from Paine Field, in Everett. (The Boeing Co.)
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19. Boeing’s Dreamliner failed to stay in service: The Federal...

20. Boeing’s union troubles … As the AP reported: Boeing has offered to build much of the new 777X airplane in the Puget Sound area, but the company wants to get workers off traditional pension plans, replacing the benefit with a defined-contribution savings plan. The company said it is considering moving production of the plane to another state if it can't reach a deal with Machinists in Washington.
The union rejected Boeing's initial proposal by a 3-to-1 margin.

National union leadership set the next vote for Jan. 3 over the objections of local union leaders. Local union representatives say the latest contract offer is too similar to one rejected just last month.

Photo: Boeing machinists union member Kevin Flynn walks near a union hall in support of his leaders' rejection of Boeing's last contract offer as he waits for a small group of protesters who instead favor a vote, Wednesday, Dec. 18, 2013, in Everett, Wash. (Elaine Thompson, AP)
Photo: Multiple

20. Boeing’s union troubles … As the AP reported: Boeing has...

21. Seattle police failed at privacy and civil rights, resulting in its drone program and its “mesh network” that included surveillance cameras to be mothballed because of public outrage. Both programs were started out of public view with government grants and both were shelved so that rules for their use, created after public comment, could be put in place. Neither are likely to come out of the closet anytime soon.

As The Stranger — which broke the story of SPD’s network tool — reported in November:
The Seattle Police Department … announced that it has begun the process of deactivating its wireless mesh network, a powerful tool for sending vast amounts of data that also has powerful surveillance potential. In theory, the network (built by a California-based company called Aruba Networks) could track and indefinitely log the movements of any wireless device with a MAC address (phones, laptops, tablets) that moves through its coverage area.

Photo: Seattle Police displayed a drone that has the ability to take aerial photos at a maximum of 400 feet. It can run for about 10 minutes. The plan has received mixed reviews, and at an Oct. 25 meeting at the Garfield Community Center several people responded to police by yelling and swearing. (Casey McNerthney/seattlepi.com)
Photo: Multiple

22. The University of Washington lost its football coach but quickly hired Boise State coaching legend Chris Petersen to replace Steve Sarkisian, who left abruptly Dec. 2 to go to the University of Southern California. Failure? Maybe it’s a failure wrapped in a promising new start?

Photo: Boise State’s Chris Petersen, seen here Nov. 30 in a game against New Mexico, is the new UW coach, according to media reports. (AP Photo/The Idaho Statesman, Darin Oswald)
Photo: Multiple

22. The University of Washington lost its football coach but...

23. A 16-inch water main ruptured near University Village in a brief but pretty spectacular failure in October. The gushing water appeared to undermine at least one of the pillars holding up the Northeast 45th Street viaduct running from the University of Washington to the shopping center. However, Seattle transportation officials later said the viaduct was sound. The cast-iron pipe in that part of town is more than 80 years old. The agency said that makes the pipe "middle-aged by local standards."

Photo: Water erupts from the ground after a main burst under the NE 45th Street Viaduct, flooding the streets of University Village on Tuesday, October 8, 2013. Stores and businesses in the popular shopping destination were spared from the flood of water. There was concern that the flood of water may have undermined the support structures of the bridge. (JOSHUA TRUJILLO, SEATTLEPI.COM)
Photo: Multiple

23. A 16-inch water main ruptured near University Village in a...

24. Continued failure at Hanford Nuclear Reservation … As the AP wrote: The nation's biggest collection of radioactive waste, held in 177 underground tanks at the sprawling reservation near Richland, has been undergoing environmental cleanup for the past two decades. The material is left over from the production of plutonium for nuclear weapons. Some of the tanks date back to World War II and have leaked.
Earlier this month, the U.S. Department of Energy said it will retrieve nearly all the highly radioactive waste stored in the tanks and convert it into a glass-like substance for permanent disposal.

Photo: Workers are shown in a contaminated area at C-Tank Farm at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation near Richland. Tanks holding nuclear waste at the facility were discovered to be leaking radioactive waste into the ground. The leaks were occurring at a far higher rate than previously believed. (JOSHUA TRUJILLO/SEATTLEPI.COM)
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24. Continued failure at Hanford Nuclear Reservation … As the AP...

25. We’re a bicycle friendly city, but cyclists are killed each year on streets. This year a cyclist was killed in an accident with a semi-truck on East Marginal Way South near South Hanford Street in Seattle. The man was riding on the first day of Bike to Work Month on a stretch of road known to be bad for cyclists.
The Seattle Times wrote: … Cascade Bicycle Club’s policy director, Craig Benjamin, said a future street rebuild, to accommodate heavy freight loads, creates an opportunity to improve the bicycling route, as well.

“It’s tragic that it may take a loss of life to have these safety improvements taken seriously. It doesn’t have to be this way,” the club blogged Wednesday.

Photo: Mourner Lars Halstron places his hand on a memorial and bows his head during a bike ride in honor of Lance David, a cyclist killed in an accident with a semi-truck on East Marginal Way South near South Hanford Street in Seattle. David, 54, was riding his bike May 1st from Federal Way on the first day of Bike to Work Month when he died. (JOSHUA TRUJILLO/SEATTLEPI.COM)
Photo: Multiple

Here's our list of top failures in Seattle and the Northwest this year. Not all the failures were any one person's or group's failure, but a failure all the same. And, some of these failures were more on the ridiculous side than serious, but they made noise.

Check them out and let us know the failures you think ought to be in the list and if we get enough of them we'll make a gallery of reader failures. Send them to Jake Ellison.